Dubai:
The battle over smartphone photography is intensifying among Android vendors this year, with the demand for better selfies pushing up expectations for both rear- and forward-facing cameras.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 have lead the market in camera development for Android phones, but Huawei, the third-largest smartphone maker, does not want to be left behind.
The Chinese manufacturer launched two new unibody devices — P9 and P9 Plus — with dual 12MP cameras in the rear — in collaboration with Leica — and an 8MP in the front.
Jiao Jian, President of Huawei Consumer Business Group in the Middle East, said the P9 brings together best-in-class hardware and software, from optical lenses, to sensors, to image processing algorithms, empowering users to capture the highest-quality images.
Consumers use their smartphones to take billions of pictures each year, making “photography” critical to user experience.
Both rear lenses have the same specs — an f/2.2 aperture and 1.25 ¬ micrometre pixel size. One lens shoots colour while the other takes black and white images, and software combines the two into a single image with superior detail, depth and colour.
Jian said the P9 truly excels in lowlight conditions, as the dual-camera design captures more light and details.
The P9 supports camera focusing based on three methodologies — laser, depth calculation and contrast — and automatically selects the one that yields the best result in any given environment.
Daniel Gleeson, senior analyst at IHS Technology, said cameras have always been a key differentiating factor on smartphones. In the last two years, displays have evolved to the point where basically there is no difference between the displays found on the mid-range and high-end devices.
“So, it is difficult for the handset makers to differentiate on displays amid handset designs are almost the same. Now, cameras are the key selling point and all the vendors are trying to differentiate with them,” he said.
With 5.2-inch 1080p display, the P9 is powered by Huawei’s home-grown new Kirin 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor and with two variants of RAM and ROM — 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM, and 4G RAM and 64GB ROM. The battery capacity is 3,000mAh. It is priced at Dh1,799.
The P9 Plus has 5.5-inch Full HD Press Touch (like Force Touch on iPhone 6S) display and powered by Huawei’s home-grown new Kirin 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor. It houses 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM. The battery capacity is 3,400mAh. Both the devices support up to 128GB of microSD card storage. It is going to be available by end of May and priced at Dh2,199.
Jian said that P9 is the first phone with triple-antenna architecture, normal phones have double antennas, for better connectivity to cellular and WiFi networks.
